FLEMING, John, American clergyman and missionary: b. Muffin County, Pa., 12 April 1806; d. Ayr, Neb., October 1894. He was edu cated at Jefferson College and NeNv Jersey Col lege, was graduated from the latter in 1829, and from Princeton Theological Seminary, in 1832. He was ordained to the ministry of the Presby terian Church, by a synod at Lewistown, Pa., in October 1832, shortly after which he left for the Creek Nation, in the Indian Territory, where he had been assigned to work by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Being one of the first missionaries to go among the Creek people, he devoted himself to the study of the Creek, or Muskogee language, for which he devised an alphabet which enabled him to reduce it to writing. He prepared and published several primary textbooks in the Creek language and also translated and pub lished hymns. His work encountered much
opposition from some of the less progressive members of the tribe and finally, as the result of baseless charges, he was ordered to leave the tribal reservation, which he did in 1836. In 1838 he was assigned a mission at Green Bay, Wis., but the station was soon discontinued. He then settled in a pastorate in Westmore land County, Pa., where he remained until 1851, when he removed to La Salle County, Ill., and engaged in home mission work.. In 1876 he settled at Ayr, Neb., where he made his home until his death. Though his service as a missionary among the Creek Indians was com paratively brief, his work in reducing their language to writing formed the basis of the more successful efforts of those who followed in later years.